Personal chefs feed a growing need

Apr. 2, 2014
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Ana Cecere, a personal chef from Long Valley, N.J., prepares meals at the homes of her clients. She demonstrates her food prep at her home, Wednesday March 19, 2014. / Kathy Johnson, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

by Nina Rizzo, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

by Nina Rizzo, Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

Twice a week, David Silverman of Brick, N.J., packs up his pots and pans, spices and spoons, and all the groceries he needs to make dinners for a family of six and drives to his client's home. He prepares two meals on Tuesday morning and three more on Thursday morning - enough food to last through Saturday.

"I had the idea to start this business 25 years ago, but I was married with a home, cars and young kids. It would have been very difficult to say to my wife that I'll quit my steady paycheck and try something most people never heard of," he said.

When Silverman lost his job three years ago, the 53-year-old divorced father of grown children figured it was the perfect time to start his own business. Still, many people had never heard of personal chefs - or assumed they are just for wealthy families or busy professionals.

That misconception is changing, industry experts said.

Shari Nott, 48, hired Silverman about two months ago. She said nobody in her household was interested in cooking. She works long hours running the family's property maintenance company in West Long Branch, and the housekeeper and nanny for the four children - ages 12, 13, 14 and 16 - weren't exactly preparing well-balanced meals.

Nott pays $550 per week for the family-style dinners. She said the cost is between $50 and $100 more per week than she used to spend on dinners, but she reasoned "that's not a lot of money" for a household of eight.

"The best part for me is nothing is frozen," Nott said. "We're trying very hard to be healthy, and everything David makes is fresh ... I look forward to coming home to dinner now."

An attainable service

Robert Lynch of the U.S. Personal Chef Association said his trade group has approximately 700 members nationwide, with 30 in New Jersey. He said membership fell when the recession hit, but the numbers are creeping back up as the economy rebounds. Most personal chefs also offer catering services, arrange intimate dinner parties and lead in-home cooking demonstrations to supplement their businesses.

"People are starting to see this as an attainable service, not just for the rich and elite," Lynch said.

Lynch said the typical customer is someone who wants a sustainable diet with organic or locally sourced foods or those with allergies or medical concerns. A growing trend, he noted, is catering to a geriatric crowd who may not be able to cook for themselves anymore or don't know how to tailor their diets based on their medical conditions.

"The big change is that people have a greater understanding that it's not just food," Lynch said, meaning that the processed and fatty meals they have consumed for decades are "now taking a toll on their bodies."

Eating healthier

Ana Cecere, owner of Wellness Enterprises LLC, said she left a lucrative career in corporate sales to become a personal chef. She began learning about the healing power of foods when she became ill several years ago and now passes that knowledge on to her clients, some of whom are fighting cancer or trying to lose weight.

"I like teaching people how to eat better," she said. "There's always a way to make a meal healthier."

Cecere, 51, of Long Valley, offers a dairy-free, organic menu. Some of her most popular dishes are curry chicken with root vegetables, quinoa with mixed veggies and raw carrot cake. She said dinner for two for five days runs about $400, including groceries. Family-style dinners for four cost about $750 per week. The meals include an entree and two sides. Dessert is optional.

Liz Mancinelli, music director for a Catholic church in Morris County, hired Cecere because her ministry often required her to work through meal times. This single woman subscribes to the 20-meal monthly plan and pulls the individual portions out of the freezer as needed.

"Ana is very willing to adapt her recipes to my personal needs," Mancinelli, 58, said in an email, noting that she is about to start a strict dietary program. "Ana is very willing to cook using the foods I will specifically need on the program. She uses 'good fats,' wonderful spices and textures, which make her food really delicious."

Comfort food

Karyn Cardenas, an engineer turned personal chef, started her Old Bridge company, iCookuEat, seven years ago. She focuses on comfort foods but mixes it up with Thai, Asian, Latin and Caribbean influences. Her weekly service starts at $350 plus groceries.

Cardenas said several clients have "gifted" her to new mothers. She also throws "pajama brunches" for couples who can't get a babysitter or families looking to pamper mom on the weekends. She gets many requests for the brunches around Mother's Day.

John Deatcher of Foodini's Catering in Neptune is more the exception than the rule. He lugged around his pots and pans to his clients' homes for the first two years, then rented time in deli kitchens for several years and just delivered the prepared foods. In 2008, he was able to buy a building and outfit it with his own commercial kitchen.

Deatcher, 43, said most of his clients are looking for homestyle meals, such as his meatloaf and beef stew. One woman pays him to cook hearty meals for her son in college. He's had as many as 30 clients at one time, but it was too difficult to manage so he's dropped down to only a few families and spends the rest of his time catering events and gourmet dinner parties.

"It's a great feeling to help people out," Deatcher said.

Carol Gallina, a divorced mother of three teenagers who is fighting a rare form of pancreatic cancer, is one of Deatcher's clients. She began the service about seven years ago, when she was healthier and working as vice president of a defense contracting firm. She had no time to cook and felt guilty when her family didn't have well-balanced meals on the table. She started with a bulk meal service and pulled out the frozen portions when needed.

Gallina, 46, and now retired, was so impressed with Deatcher she hired him to cater her holiday parties and beach club affairs. "Once you do it," she said, referring to the full service, "it's hard to go back to doing it yourself."

She now orders 15 to 20 low-carb meals per month. Deatcher often tailors her meals based on how Gallina is feeling that week. After a recent hospitalization, for example, she was sensitive to dairy and tomatoes so he worked around that.

"It's a relief for me knowing my kids are eating healthier," she said, adding that on that particular night she heated up a "delicious" filet mignon with grilled broccoli and cauliflower. "I'm not a good cook. If I did cook we'd wind up throwing it out and then ordering take-out ... This way is less stress, and I feel better."